Saturday, 9 May 2015

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam on Saturday asked youngsters never to doubt their ability as he recalled his “doubt and confusion” when then ISRO chairman Satish Dhawan had asked him to make a rocket system to put satellite into orbit in a period of seven years.

“One fine day he said, Kalam you can take the budget you want, the number of people want and anything needed I will get it sanctioned from the cabinet, but you have to do this.

“I was surprised and confused, there were many people senior to me in my establishment. Why me? Will I be able to do it? I was doubtful. You should not be,” the 83-year-old scientist told youngsters who thronged the Diggi Place here to hear his address at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.
He gave the mantra, “I dream and I will fly one day.”

“I always dreamt of being a pilot, so I enrolled myself into a course of aeronautical engineering. When I went before the selection panel to become a pilot, there were 10 contestants and 9 seats and I was the one to be dropped.

“I was disheartened that I could not become a pilot but I became the President of India,” Kalam said during a session titled ‘The visionary: Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’.

“When I became the President I told the Air Chief to teach me how to fly and he trained me for six months. I did not become a pilot but I could still fulfil my dream of flying, because I dreamt that I will fly. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result into action,” he said, as the crowd burst into a large round of applause.

Kalam made the youngsters repeat after him and vow to make India and world a better place to live.
“When there is righteousness in the heart there is a beauty in the character…when there is beauty in the character there is already in the home…when there is already in the home there is order in the nation and when there is order in the nation there is peace in the world…,” he said as people repeated after him.
“Take a vow…that whatever you do in life you will always think what I can give. All the trouble starts when we think ‘what I can get’ , that’s where the roots of corruption are,” he said.
Sharing his vision for 2020 and beyond, which are also the titles of his two books — Vision 2020 and Beyond 2020, Kalam said that the five key areas the country needs to focus upon are education, infrastructure, entrepreneurship, health and sustainable development.
“We need to transform our education system too. My suggestion is that 30 per cent of the syllabus in class 9-12 should be reduced and skill-based courses should be introduced in schools.

“So, when a child passes out of class 12, he has two certificates one of his academic credentials and another of his school credential.“Similarly in colleges, there should be a concept of a degree plus diploma in the same fashion,” he said.
Kalam said that entrepreneurship is the key to economic development of the country and to fulfillment of VISION 2020 as well.

“We need more employment generators and not employment seekers. Our IT sector is doing well, pharmacy is doing well, our agriculture is just excellent. We need more infrastructural development,” he said.